Daytona 24: TruSpeed Motorsports race report

TruSpeed Motorsports Finishes Eighth in Rolex 24 at Daytona
DAYTONA, Fla. (January 29, 2007) -- Although there were some unscripted
hurdles from the beginning, the TruSpeed Motorsports team of Charles
Morgan, Rob Morgan, Timo Bernhard, and B.J.

TruSpeed Motorsports Finishes Eighth in Rolex 24 at Daytona

DAYTONA, Fla. (January 29, 2007) -- Although there were some unscripted
hurdles from the beginning, the TruSpeed Motorsports team of Charles
Morgan, Rob Morgan, Timo Bernhard, and B.J. Zacharias finished eighth
overall in the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the Grand American Road Racing
Association Rolex Series. Early problems with oil venting from the
transmission and a balky powerplant which turned out to be an electrical
issue, took the No. 47 Querencia Golf Club, Los Cabos/TruSpeed Motor
Cars/Wright Tuning/VelocityVille.com Porsche out of contention to win,
but by keeping with the pre-race playbook the team was able to claw back
into position to score a top ten finish late in the race.

"When we were brought in for the overflow issue, I remember sitting
on the pit box with my head in my hands," said Rob Morgan.
"Right off the bat we were down seven laps. I just couldn't
believe it. Then the positive side kicked in. At least it happened early
and it gave us a lot of time to fight back. Then in the middle of the
night we had a radiator issue. It cost us a lot, and I guess it is a
cliche but it was just a racing deal. Those things happen. You just
change it as quick as you can. We changed it quicker than one of the
other top teams that had a radiator issue. That says a lot about our guys
and their ability to work fast. Picking up those two spots at the end of
the race due to attrition; that was probably the highest point for
us."

The oil leak early on kept the team on pit road for several laps in the
very early going. The leak wasn't severe, but enough to cause
considerable smoke and raise notice from Grand Am officials.

"The third or fourth lap out I got a call to come in and
pit," said Bernhardt. "I didn't really understand why,
but it was pretty obvious after that it was due to the oil leak out of
the gearbox. It wasn't a big leak, but it was spraying oil on the
gearbox and causing a lot of smoke. We had to come in four or five times
to get it fixed. We lost five laps so it wasn't a good start to our
race."

Another hurdle that had to be crossed, not just for the TruSpeed
Motorsports team but for all teams still in the race at the time, was the
heavy rains that fell overnight. Track conditions were difficult at best
with standing water at various areas and visibility became an issue with
intense spray and fogging of the windscreen.

"I couldn't see anything, except for what was one to two feet
in front of the car," said Zacharias. "I thought it was bad
the first time I went out in the rain, and then to wake up three hours
later to have two inches of water and worse conditions, it was even
worse. We had a tear-off on the windscreen and moisture got between it
and caused it to fog up. We came in for a pit stop and they were going to
clean the window and they took that off and it was an immediate
improvement. The goal was just to keep the car on the road. We
weren't in a position to challenge anyone or run anyone down at
that time. With some of the other problems, that was our goal once we
were dealt the cards, we wanted to play them to the best of our
ability."

While most members of the team were able to find time to sleep for an
hour or two throughout the night, crew chief John Wright stayed at his
post on the pit box for the entire 24 hours. Wright had many nervous
moments, starting with the transmission leak early on and then with an
engine that wasn't producing max power.

"There was a time in the middle of the race when I thought we were
losing the engine," Wright said. "When you think you might be
losing the engine you need to make a decision. I talked to Charles and
told him the engine might be going south and asked him if he wanted to
keep throwing tires at it and keep running it. If we kept going,
we'd keep wearing out the parts and we might not have a good
result. Ironically, the problem we thought we were having which could
have led to a blown engine healed itself. We didn't have the power
we needed but the engine lasted. We got into a rhythm. Even some of the
high profile teams, like the 10 car, they lost a clutch in the first
hour. That's why they had to push it out of the pits after every
stop. It seems like every team had an issue. But ours started
early."

Charles Morgan has more endurance racing experience than ninety percent
of the drivers in the starting lineup. Morgan enjoyed working with his
teammates, and said the overall quality of driving and competition in the
Rolex 24 was at an all-time high.

"Timo has shown me again what a true professional is,"
Charles Morgan said. "He has done everything he can for the team
and to achieve a team result. He is not here to show off his talent, he
is here to be a successful part of the team. The same with B.J., we threw
him into the middle of hell with the rain. You couldn't see and you
couldn't maneuver because of all the traffic. Rob did the team
thing too. We've asked him to ride laps about 1:50 or so and
he's done just what he's been asked to do. Everyone has
worked together and done a great job. John (Wright) is a consummate
professional and the crew has been outstanding."

"The quality of driving in this event is vastly superior to any
endurance event I have ever been in. I am absolutely blown away with the
quality of the drivers, both in the GT and the Prototype divisions. The
GT cars have done a great job here too. They didn't try to block
and gave you a lot of room." concluded Morgan.

The next Grand-Am Daytona Prototype event for the No. 47 TruSpeed
Motorsports team is still under consideration with a possible run at
Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 400K race scheduled for March 24, 2007 that
will be televised live on SPEED.